The Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams secured emphatic wins against their respective opponents to qualify for the semifinals of the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
The men’s team, a seven-time gold-medallist, bounced back from the shock 23-24 defeat against South Korea to beat Thailand 49-30 in its fourth and final Group A match. They had beaten Bangladesh 50-21 and Sri Lanka 44-28 before losing to South Korea.
India is certain to finish among the top two teams in the group and qualify for the semifinals. But the group winner will be known later as South Korea is yet to complete its preliminary engagements.
In the women’s competition, India played two matches and emerged victorious in both to top Group A with an all-win record and qualify for the semifinals.
In the first match of the day, the Indian women’s team defeated Sri Lanka 38-12 before trouncing Indonesia 54-22 in its final group match.
The Indians had beaten Japan 43-12 and Thailand 33-23 in their earlier group matches.
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